Fishing the North Coast

Wide Variety of Tuna Caught off the Coast

By Kenny Priest

fishing@northcoastjournal.com

There is some absolutely insane offshore fishing happing right now off the Northern California coast. From Fort Bragg to Crescent City, the albacore bite has been wide-open. But that’s just part of the story. What has everyone talking is the number of exotic, warm water species. Fort Bragg has seen the widest variety. A wide-open albacore bite on Sunday afternoon 30 miles offshore quickly turned into a tuna frenzy as thousands of 100- to 300-pound bluefin, bigeye and yellowfin tuna made an appearance. Several bluefins were hooked, but the under-gunned anglers didn’t stand much of a chance in landing one of those bruisers. However, there were quite a few bigeyes up to 160-pounds landed. Shelter Cove also got in on the exotic action as a 151-pound yellowfin tuna was landed on Sunday. The lucky boat had several others hooked but anglers were unable to coax them to the boat. Simultaneously, a nice size Dorado was landed right next to the boat fighting the yellowfin. You can’t make this stuff up. Closer to home, both Eureka and Crescent City have seen epic albacore action the last few days. Marc Schmidt of Coastline Charters boated 52 albies Sunday fishing 43 southwest of the entrance. The fish are big, too, sporting a solid 20-pound average. Out of Crescent City, one of the charter boats landed 40 albacore on Monday roughly 50 miles offshore. Weather and ocean conditions look favorable for the next few days. I, for one, can’t wait to see what the next warm-water surprise will be.

The Oceans:

Eureka

With the warm water within reach and flat calm seas, the Eureka fleet is focused on tuna. Boats did well Sunday 45 miles southwest from the entrance on big albacore. The weather wasn’t as good Monday, but a few boats made the trip. Supposedly the high boat landed 18. The forecast for the next couple days looks good, and the warm water currently off Cape Mendocino is making its way north towards Eureka.

Shelter Cove

According to Jake Mitchell of Sea Hawk Sport Fishing, boats that ran for tuna on Sunday did well. “Scores ranged from 5 to 20 fish, but they were all a good grade,” said Mitchell. “Most of the effort was around the Vizcaino Knoll. The rockfish bite is still great, but the lings are still tougher to come by. We’ve been spending most of our days at the Ranch House.” John Neill of Shelter Cove poses with his huge 151-pound Yellowfin tuna he landed Sunday while trolling for albacore at Vizcaino Knoll out of Shelter Cove. Photo courtesy of John Neill

Crescent City

Tuna is the main focus at the moment out of Crescent City. A few boats went out Sunday roughly 36 miles, with the top boat landing 14 big albacore along with a 42-inch Dorado. Monday, one of the local charters put in 40 tuna 50 miles offshore and a private boat had 12, all between 25 and 35 pounds along with a Dorado. According to Britt Carson of Crescent City’s Englund Marine, quite a few boats made the run on Tuesday and are catching all they can handle.

The Rivers:

Lower Klamath

Flows are still high, roughly 3,600 cubic feet per second on the lower Klamath gauge as of Tuesday. The releases from Iron Gate arrived on the lower river Monday and it quickly muddied up. It is starting to clear but will take some time. There is a mix of jacks and adult salmon in the river and a few steelhead as well. As a reminder, the lower river quota has been met and salmon longer than 23 inches must be released. Your adult Chinook releases need to be recorded on your North Coast Salmon Report Card as normal. The bag limit is two salmon less than or equal to 23 inches and two hatchery steelhead.

Chetco/Lower Rogue

A few salmon a day are being caught in the Chetco estuary, with some of the kings topping 30 pounds, reports Martin. “Monday was the best day so far this season, with more than a dozen salmon landed. Anglers targeting bottom fish closer to the harbor also are encountering salmon, a sign bigger numbers of kings are staging just out from the jetties. Salmon fishing also remains good in the Rogue Bay, with a few coho showing up and plenty of kings. Lots of jacks also are showing in the catch.” l

Read the complete fishing roundup at www.northcoastjournal.com.

Kenny Priest operates Fishing the North Coast, a fishing guide service out of Humboldt specializing in salmon and steelhead. Find it on Facebook, Instagram, YouTube and www.fishingthenorthcoast. com. For up-to-date fishing reports and North Coast river information, email kenny@fishingthenorthcoast.com.

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